Lost and Alone
by kitty of silver
Summary: This starts as a hike and ends as a nightmare! AAAAAAAAAAAA!


Riku waited for Sora and the others to catch up. Being the hike guide could suck sometimes. Especially with his little siblings tagging along. Sora and Roxas, twins, always stuck together. No need to worry about the buddy system there. Others weren't so good. Cloud and Leon couldn't stand each other. The two got into an argument over who got to partner up with Aerith, and she ended up with Yuffie. So, they stayed as far as possible away from each other. Riku shook his head, his long silver hair bouncing. His gray T-shirt was already sweat-soaked, and his cut-off jeans didn't relieve him at all. As the others got closer, he counted for the hundredth time. Sora, Roxas, Leon, Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, Kairi, Namine, and himself made nine. _I should have ten_, he thought. Where was Axel? The tall red head should have been with Cloud, or hovering protectivly over the twins. "Cloud, where's Axel?" The blonde looked up, confused. "Eh?" Trust Cloud to have a one word answer. "Where is Axel?" Cloud shrugged his shoulders, which was more annoying than his one word answers. Riku growled softly, cursing the fact that he hadn't been paying attention. _Just great, I lost someone on the first day. Just great!_Sora looked at his older brother with wide blue eyes. Or was it Roxas? No, it was Sora. Roxas wore a blue shirt, Sora wore a green one. The twins had slight differences, so small, you had to squint to see them. As he debated over which twin was looking at him, he noticed that someone had wandered off. Riku could no longer see Namine's wheat blonde hair. "Kairi," he called, "Where's Namine?" She appeared startled as she looked around, not seeing her sister. She panicked, calling Namine's name, running around the clearing. Leon caught her just as she tried to rush into the woods. _I just saw her. Where'd she go?_He survayed the camp. Riku nearly yelped in frustration as he noticed Yuffie was gone as well. _They're dissapearing right before my eyes!_Next was Aerith, then Kairi. All the girls had vanished. Soon, Leon went missing. Then Cloud was M.I.A. The twins and Riku were all that were left. Riku had a firm grasp on their shirt collars as he led them down the trail. No way they were going to disappear. Not his brothers.

It got dark an hour later. Riku stopped long enough to pull a flashlight from his backpack, not taking his eyes off the twins the whole time. They stayed put. He gave the flashlight to one of them, grabbed their shirts, and started walking again. He reached for Roxas, but gripped empty air. Sora started crying, lost without his twin. Riku pulled his little brother closer to him. Sora wrapped his skinny arms around him. Riku took the flashlight and shone it on the path. They continued the long walk back down the hill.

Riku and Sora arrived at base around four in the morning. They were tired, hungry, and Sora was still crying. Tifa, their mother, ran to them with open arms. She tried to scoop Sora into her arms, but Riku wouldn't, couldn't, let him go. She led them back to the van. The whole time, from return to base to the arrival home, Sora never stopped crying and Riku never let go of his little brother.

It was all over the news. Eight dead bodies were found on the mountain. It showed the pictures of the deceased, but Sora never saw it. Riku pulled him into his room before the story came on. Neither boy had been the same. Riku became hard, anti-social, cold to all but Sora. Sora, on the other hand, walked like the living dead. Tifa wished she could do something for her boys, but she couldn't reach them. Riku just walked away, Sora didn't even hear her. She could only hope and pray that they'd be better before their father came home.

No such luck. Sephiroth came home from a business trip two days early. He walked in the door, tossed his suitcase at Tifa, pulled a beer from the fridge, and downed it in a second. Sora and Riku sat on the couch, watching the weather channel. "Why so dull, boy?" Riku didn't look up, nor did Sora. Sephiroth smacked Riku's head and asked again, "Why so dull?" Again, Riku didn't look up. Sora stood and headed for his room. Sephiroth didn't like that. He walked up behind Sora and grabbed his limp, brown hair. "Where do you think you're going, boy?" "To my room," he replied weakly. "Not if I got anythin' to do with it," his father growled. Dragging Sora by his hair, he threw his son at the table. Riku jumped up and caught his little brother before his head smacked the table. Sora whimpered softly, which made Riku angry. Angry that his father was treating his brother like that, angry that his father was home, angry that he was his father was his father at all. Tifa tried to stand up for her sons, saying, "Sephiroth, please, you just got home. Not now, please." He turned on her, long hair swirling angrily. He slapped her soundly across the face. She dropped the suitcase and fell on the floor. "Shut up, you bitch. No one asked you." That was all Riku needed.

Riku pushed Sora into his room. Sora knew he should've stayed put, but he was curious. He'd never seen his older brother so angry. He snuck out and hid behind the hall door, where he could see perfectly. Tifa stood behind her silver haired son as he stood against his father. Something flashed in Sephiroth's hand. _A knife!_Sora wanted to warn his brother, but Riku seemed to know already. He saw Riku say something to his mother. She turned and fled into the hall. When Tifa saw her younger son in the hallway, she scooped him up and carried him to his room. She locked the door behind herself. In Sora and Riku's room, they waited in silence, straining to hear what happened. There was some incoherent shouts, followed by a loud _thunk_ and a sharp _crack_, then nothing.

Tifa waited to be found. She wasn't really worried about herself, but her sons. More importantly, Sora. He was so fragile, so young and pure, she didn't want him to die. The doorknob rattled as someone tried to open the door. "Mom, Sora, open the door. It's me, Riku." Before Tifa could stop him, Sora bounced up and opened the door. Riku stood there, covered in blood, cold as ever. Sora ignored the blood and swung his arms around his brother. "W-what happened?" Riku looked at his mother like he would a stranger. "I killed that bastard. Now he can't hurt Sora. Never again." Tifa felt tears well up and spill from her eyes. It was over.

Police ruled it as a mugging. It was gang-style killing. Beaten to a pulp, flatened, and repeat. The result was a bloody pancake. No one would know the truth. No one had to. No I.D., no family call. No one ever knew what happened that day. No one but Riku knew who took the first swing, or how he died, or why there was so much blood. After that day, he never talked about it.

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I OWN NO ONE IN THIS STORY!!!!!! THEY ALL BELONG TO SQUARE ENIX!!!!!!! NO ONE IN THIS STORY BELONGS TO ME!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Please review this story. It is my second one, comments would be nice. Thank you!

Stuff like this makes you wonder what goes on in my mind. :D bwahahahahahaha... hahahahahaha... haha... ahhhhhh...


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